Too often, musicians define technique as the ability to play rapidly. Although this is a valid goal, there are many other skills to develop if one is to play musically. The skills that are stressed in this book are useful for clarinetists no matter what type of music you play, be it symphonic, band, pop or jazz, or playing some of the great etudes or unaccompanied clarinet literature.
This book covers the major and minor scales, scales in thirds and arpeggios up to three sharps and three flats. The material will help you to gain the skill to produces a beautiful sound, improve intonation, play better staccato notes, improve you understanding of, and accuracy in playing various rhythms, and solve inherent clarinet problems such as playing well over the break.
in order to make this book even more useful to you, you can get really involved with the process of learning by filling in the blanks on the exercises and do some active thinking about the material that you will be practicing. It is also vital that you read and discuss with your teacher the written material throughout the book. I especially recommend that you and your teacher discuss the next section on tone color. You may wish to make your own list that would have special meaning for you.
Superior equipment on which to play is extremely important; the finest players generally have the finest clarinets, mouthpieces, ligatures and reeds. So, try to find the best equipment, and keep it in good working order.
It is vital for you to set up a practice schedule and keep it! This book alone should consume at least one hour a day. In addition, the study of etudes and clarinet literature should take at least another hour of your time a day.
My final suggestion is that you not only have a metronome with which to practice, but also use an electronic scale tuner, The tuner will tell you more than you would like to know about those out-of-tune notes!
- Charles MacLeod
